News :: GLBT
Legalizing gay marriage would help Maryland’s bottom line, study findsAssociated PressThursday Nov 29, 2007 Legalizing same-sex marriage in Maryland would provide a modest benefit to the state’s bottom line, according to a study that advocates say bolsters their argument that gays and lesbians should have the right to tie the knot.
The study released Wednesday by the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation at the UCLA School of Law concluded that Maryland’s budget would see a positive impact of $3.2 million annually if the state allowed same-sex couples to marry.
The report found that the loss of revenue from transfer taxes and increased spending on state employee benefit programs would be outweighed by a reduction in spending on public benefit programs and sales tax revenue from weddings.
"All those dollars spent on hotels and parties and other aspects of weddings would bring just about $100 million a year to the state’s businesses, and that leads to sales tax revenue," said M.V. Lee Badgett, a co-author of the study.
The Williams Institute has conducted similar surveys in eight other states; all have found an economic benefit from legalizing gay marriage. The reports echo a 2004 analysis by the Congressional Budget Office that found a modest boon to the federal budget - less than $1 billion a year - if same-sex marriage were legalized nationwide.
Opponents of gay marriage in Maryland argue that legalizing same-sex unions would undermine traditional families and lead to homosexuality being taught in schools. The impact on the budget has rarely entered the debate.
Del. Christopher Shank, the House minority whip, said repealing a package of tax increases approved during a recent special session would have a far greater benefit to Maryland’s economy than legalizing gay marriage. And he said $3.2 million would not be enough money to change anybody’s mind about the issue.
"To try to use an economic argument to somehow sweeten the pot, I think, would fall on deaf ears," said Shank, a Washington County Republican. The economic benefits, he added, "don’t outweigh to me the negative societal damage of legalizing homosexual marriage."
But Dan Furmansky, executive director of the pro-gay marriage group Equality Maryland, said the study was an important tool.
"It’s part of the vast rebuttals that we’re forced to make due to falsehoods by our opponents, one of which is that somehow this is bad economically for Maryland," Furmansky said.
When the General Assembly convenes in January, Equality Maryland and other groups intend to push a bill that would legalize civil marriage for same-sex couples while specifying that no clergy would be forced to perform marriages that they oppose. On the other side, Del. Don Dwyer, R-Anne Arundel, plans to introduce a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, as he has in previous legislative sessions.
A 1973 state law banning gay marriage survived a court challenge this year, sending the issue back to the legislature.
Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, supports civil unions. But Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, also a Democrat, has said that he won’t support gay marriage or civil unions, and that supporters don’t have the votes in the legislature.
Although the Williams Institute study did not specifically address the economic impact of civil unions, Badgett said the benefit would be smaller because couples from other states wouldn’t travel to Maryland to get married.
 Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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